The plight of ICE detainees, even as East Bay jail will stop holding them

A guard searches women returning to a residential building at the West County Detention Facility in Contra Costa County in Richmond, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017.

Photo: Noah Berger / Special to The Chronicle 2017

Soon after Contra Costa County announced last week that it was severing its contract to hold Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond, immigrant rights organizations began raising money to bail detainees out of the jail.

The West County Detention Facility Community Fund was started by Freedom for Immigrants, the watchdog group that was banned by Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston from visiting detainees in the jail in March.

The jail still won’t allow the group inside to check on the well-being of detainees, so Freedom for Immigrants is focusing on getting detainees released by putting up the bond money — before they’re transferred to other detention centers. It’s part of the group’s larger strategy to dismantle immigration detention by proving that people don’t have to be imprisoned to ensure they show up for immigration court appearances.

Because the contract was terminated, ICE has four months to remove detainees from West County — either by releasing them or transferring them to another facility. On Wednesday, there were 148 ICE detainees at the jail.

Detention facility under scrutiny

ICE has discretion to release anyone on recognizance, parole or bond. Bond is like bail, but in immigration court there’s no such thing as bail. If detainees aren’t released on their own recognizance or paroled, they must pay 100 percent of the bond amount to get out of jail.

In criminal court, bail is secured by paying a percentage of the bail amount to a bail bondsman, someone who is just one phone call away. There are few bond brokers working in immigration, so immigration bonds are paid by individuals or organizations.

The person who pays the bond, known as the obligor, is also notified of the bonded person’s immigration hearings. If a bonded person fails to show up in court, the money is forfeited.

According to immigration attorneys, if ICE declines to release someone, an immigration judge can be asked to review a case to decide whether the person is a flight risk or a danger to the community — and eligible for a bond hearing.

Immigration judges can order ICE to release detainees on recognizance, parole or bond.

But not every detainee is eligible for bond. According to immigration attorneys, undocumented immigrants with a criminal or deportation history are typically denied custody hearings.

That’s another glaring difference between ICE detention and our criminal justice system, where everyone has the right to appear before a judge to determine if they should be held in custody.

In our criminal justice system, everyone has a right to an attorney even if they can’t afford one.

ICE detainees aren’t automatically appointed attorneys. I’ve been told by several immigration attorneys that a person can be detained for years without a hearing. That’s why many detainees choose to secure their freedom by agreeing to self-deport, leaving their families behind.

On Monday, immigration attorneys screened detainees at West County to see who is eligible for bond before they’re transferred to another detention facility in the country.

The minimum bond is $1,500, but bonds are usually set at $5,000 to $15,000 by immigration judges, according to Freedom for Immigrants.

As of Tuesday, the West County Detention Facility Community Fund had raised more than $6,000. The fund was launched July 11 in partnership with Contra Costa Immigration Rights Alliance and the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity.

Christina Mansfield, a co-founder and co-executive director of Freedom for Immigrants, told me the organization has paid about 50 bonds for people in detention centers in the past year, at a cost of more than $100,000.

In the past, there were other avenues to get people released from detention without paying bonds. For example, asylum seekers were granted parole without paying bond, but Mansfield said that stopped under the “zero tolerance” policy enacted by the current administration.

“This bond-fund aspect of our work has become more significant in this administration, because it’s one of the last tools we have left available to us to help people win their freedom,” Mansfield said.

According to Justice Department data, 60 to 75 percent of people attend their immigration court proceedings. Immigration activists say that many who don’t show up for their hearings miss them because they don’t have an immigration attorney or because they haven’t received hearing notices sent to addresses where they no longer live.

They’re not skipping their hearing because they’re out committing crimes, as the president wants you to believe.

“By posting bonds, we’re showing that people are complying, not because there’s that financial incentive, but because they want to be here and stay here and win their cases,” said Mansfield who, on her organization’s behalf, paid a $5,000 bond for a man held at West County on Friday. “So we really see this as a way, eventually, to show that our government should be considering a community-based alternative to detention programs rather than incarceration.”

Last week, Freedom for Immigrants asked jail officials to reinstate the organization’s visitation privileges so it could help with the bond screening.

The request was denied.

“It demonstrates that the sheriff’s office is not interested in the impact that this decision has on families and communities,” said Rebecca Merton, the group’s national visitation network coordinator. “If they were, they would’ve worked in conjunction with community organizations and families to figure out a way to do this.”

Jimmy Lee, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, told me visitation won’t be reinstated until a memorandum of understanding with the group is agreed upon.

“The Custody Services Bureau is currently expanding and expediting attorney screenings,” he said in an email, noting that other community-based organizations continue to work with inmates. “Our goal is to have as many detainees represented by counsel as possible as we begin the orderly transition.”

The county severed the contract with ICE following months of protests and pressure over the county’s connection with ICE. That doesn’t mean the work is done for immigration activists and attorneys.

“ICE, under this administration, isn’t just going to stop doing its work,” said Francisco Ugarte, who manages the immigration unit at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. “They’re gonna continue to arrest people. They’re gonna continue to detain people, and they’re not going to simply step aside.”

Otis R. Taylor Jr. is the East Bay columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, focusing on the people who make the region a fascinating place to live and work. A South Carolina transplant, Otis spent more than a decade at The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper, writing about arts, culture and entertainment. Previously, Otis was the managing editor of a tech startup. Otis is interested in reporting on issues relating to diversity and equality in the East Bay, as well as the region’s history, culture and politics. He studied English at Clemson University.